Monday, 25 February 2013

Hawklion

When music scenes run their course,
bands that came from that era risk becoming irrelevant. Dublin three
piece Hawklion avoided this pitfall by decamping to the studio and
reinventing their sound.

In the middle of the last decade, with
indie music in full swing Hawklion's former guise The Looks were one
of many promising young Irish guitar bands. But the the end of the
noughties saw a definite shift in tastes and the band were determined
to move with the times.

“I think The Looks was very good for
its time. The whole indie thing was very exciting, it was a great
gateway into music. But it just got to the stage where it just seemed
that the scene was winding down. Music seemed to need something
different, something new” says gutairist Chris.

“We decided we wanted to start up
something new, something that wasn't like anything that we'd
previously done. Something sort of boundless and any genre will do
as long as it sounds good”.

Inspired by the new wave of synth led
bands, Hawklion incorporated elements of electro and punk into a
polished pop sound.

“We were always listening to more
electro stuff, especially towards the end. Things like Metronomy and
then Foals came along and they managed to bridge the gap just
perfectly. It was an enviable position when they came along, we were
like 'that's amazing'.

“But we were aware at the same time
that there's only ever going to be one of any given band like say
Metronomy or Foals. So we weren't going to try and copy them but at
the same time we were admiring what they were doing and trying to
take on board the way they were showing us that music was going”.

The band's more pop orientated
direction was the biggest departure from The Looks and has seen
tracks from their debut Gold & Silver EP played on BBC Radio 1
and Xfm.

“We don't want to be an anti-pop band
anymore. You can create an electro-indie-pop-punk sound, but you
don't have to be difficult about it. Once the core song in the middle
of it knows what it's about, I think you'll end up with a good pop
song. And I think that's what we managed to achieve on the Gold And
Silver EP”.

Hawklion have worked hard for the
fruits of their labour. They spent a year locked away in the studio
working on their new direction, which Chris admits was a trying
experience.

“When you give yourself over
completely to a project like we did with Hawklion you do go mad
sometimes. When you emerge yourself so deeply in something you become
really emotionally attached to it. When things work out it's the best
thing ever. But when you're feeling a little self-conscious about it,
it's the worst thing ever. We luckily came out with it the EP,
because we could have been in there still, now. It all came
together”.